Mr. Femi Falana
A Federal High Court in Lagos on
Thursday ordered the service of court papers on the Police Service
Commission in Abuja in a suit seeking declaration that an Assistant
Inspector General of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, is unfit to remain a police
officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The ex parte application for leave of
court to serve the PSC outside of jurisdiction was brought before
Justice Ibrahim Buba by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN).
Falana had on Thursday appeared in court
and announced appearance as counsel representing the plaintiff, a
lawyer, Mr. Tope Alabi, who filed the case.
Alabi is urging the court to compel the
Inspector General of Police; the Police Service Commission and the
Attorney General of the Federation to immediately declare Mbu’s office
with the Force vacant over alleged abuse of power.
The plaintiff’s legal action against the
AIG stemmed from a recent order reportedly given by Mbu to the police
officers of the Ogun State Police Command to kill 20 civilians for any
police officer killed during the general elections.
Alabi is contending that Mbu, having
sworn to uphold the rule of law and abide by the Constitution, acted in
contravention of Section 308 (1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, when he
gave such an order to his men.
According to the lawyer, such an
utterance, which was widely reported in the national dailies was
“capable of inciting mass killings, violence and anarchy,” in the
country.
At the hearing of the case on Thursday,
Falana, after announcing appearance, brought the ex parte application to
the notice of the court.
He said, “My Lord, we have a motion for leave to serve the third respondent outside jurisdiction.”
The plaintiff also filed three other applications which have not been heard.
They are a motion for interim injunction
restraining Mbu from giving any orders to officers under him during the
general elections pending the hearing of the plaintiff’s motion for
interlocutory injunction.
The motion for interlocutory injunction
is seeking to restrain Mbu from giving any orders pending the hearing of
the substantive suit.
The plaintiff also has a pending
application seeking to abridge the time within which the suit will be
heard and determined in view of its urgency.
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